Understanding Society- Society is People Sharing Things in Common

Society Is Group of People With Common Goals

Most people struggle to understand politics and economics without understanding the thing that created both: society.

Without society, the current political debates become trivial. Economic policies seem random. Government actions feel arbitrary.

Understanding people and how they live as a society is fundamental to understanding everything that happens within.

The Only Time Society Doesn’t Exist

Imagine you’re the only person who exists. No siblings, no parents, no neighbors. Just you.

This is the only scenario where society doesn’t exist. You take what you want, when you want it. No sharing required. No rules except your own preferences.

The moment a second person appears, society begins.

From One to Two: The Birth of Responsibility

Add one sibling to your world. Suddenly, you can’t do only what you want anymore.

That toy? You have to share it. That snack? Split it. That space under the blanket fort? Negotiate it.

This isn’t philosophy—it’s survival. Two people sharing limited resources must develop systems for coexistence. The alternative is constant conflict over everything.

Scale Up: More People, More Complex Sharing

People with more siblings learn to share better, but they also learn to get what they want within group dynamics. Why? Because in bigger family societies, selfish behavior breaks the whole system.

“Socially responsible” means making sure shared resources work for everyone: putting things back, doing chores, respecting others’ belongings.

These aren’t arbitrary rules. They’re the minimum requirements for group survival.

Enter the Government (Also Known as Parents)

Add parents to this sibling society. Now you have organized hierarchy.

Parents set rules everyone must follow. Break the rules (A.K.A law), face consequences. Parents become the first government most people experience—they control resources, set boundaries, and enforce compliance.

Where you live depends on where your parents can make a living. Who runs your house determines the rules you follow. Your lifestyle reflects your family’s income level.

Sound familiar? It’s the same pattern that scales up to cities, states, and countries.

The Society Test: What Are You Sharing?

Here’s how to identify every society you belong to: If you’re sharing something with others, that’s a society.

• School: Sharing time, learning, social experiences, memories
• Reading club: Sharing insights and book discussions
• Sports team: Sharing passion for the game, team culture, victories and defeats
• Neighborhood: Sharing territory, infrastructure, local conditions
• City/State/Country: Sharing laws, culture, public resources, governance systems
• The World: Sharing environment, climate, global challenges

Each society comes with responsibilities proportional to what’s being shared.

Why This Framework Matters

This definition cuts through the noise about what society “should be” and focuses on what it actually is: organized resource sharing among groups.

Once you see this, political debates become clearer. They’re arguments about how societies should organize their sharing systems. Economic policies are decisions about resource distribution within societies.

Government exists because shared resources need management systems. Laws exist because sharing agreements need enforcement.

The complexity comes from belonging to multiple overlapping societies simultaneously, each with different sharing arrangements and rule systems.

The Fundamental Social Contract

At the core of every society lies one non-negotiable principle: don’t intentionally harm others.

This isn’t philosophy—it’s practical necessity. When people share resources and space, intentional harm destroys the entire sharing system. You can’t have a functioning family if siblings deliberately hurt each other. You can’t have a stable neighborhood if residents actively damage each other’s property or wellbeing.

Look at any legal system. The most severe punishments target intentional harm: murder, assault, theft, fraud. These aren’t arbitrary moral choices—they’re protecting the foundation that makes society possible.

This baseline allows everything else to work. You can disagree about sharing arrangements, argue about rules, compete for resources. But the moment intentional harm enters the equation, society breaks down.

The Counterintuitive Reality

Most social problems aren’t about bad people making bad choices. They’re about sharing systems that don’t scale well or compete with each other.

A person can be perfectly responsible in their family society while being terrible at neighborhood society responsibilities. Different societies, different sharing requirements, different skill sets needed.

What society are you trying to understand better right now? Share your thoughts in the comments—let’s expand this framework together.